On Tuesday and Saturday, we were baptistry coordinators and there were two families each day who came in to do baptisms. Both sessions went very well and it was nice to have them there. They were both from America. I love my country.On Christmas Eve I spent the morning making frosted pumpkin cookies and pigs in the blanket. The frosting for the cookies didn't turn out, although it tasted delicious, so I covered them with store-bought cream cheese frosting. That was a cop-out but seemed to fit the bill and they were eaten. The pigs in a blanket are different than what they call them here. Their's are small sausages wrapped with bacon. I think I prefer mine of a hotdog wrapped with bread dough and baked.
We joined in with a potluck luncheon at 1:30 p.m.;, then listening to the King's College Choir at Cambridge at 3 p.m., live on the radio, and then family home evening at 6 p.m. It was a packed day with good company, food, and thoughts.
Upper left corner and clockwise: Parkinsons, Sister Curley, Mulhollands, Walters, Brother Crocker, Brother Curley, Brother & Sister Basten, Sister Freeman, Sister Hale, Sister George, Sister Clark, Brother Davis, and the food laden tables.
Upper left corner and clockwise: Sister Marsh, Sister Crocker, More food and the Ortons, and us.
At the end of family home evening, we played the "white elephant" gift exchange game. Sister Marsh was the leader and she had each one of us select a gift but not unwrap it. She then began telling a Christmas story and every time she said right, we passed the gift to the right. When she said left, we passed the gift to the left. The gifts went round and round until the story ended. I wound up with a saw and a hersey bar and Dad got a set of dominos.
Christmas day dawned with the best gift ever for me - sunshine! And, it lasted all day long. For breakfast, I made Julie's creme brûlée french toast. It turned out delicious and we enjoyed the festive feel of the food and the holiday.
We joined the Vowels family for the middle of the day. We picked up Sister Natalie Green, a recent convert from the ward to bring with us. She suffers from severe back pain and is in a wheel chair. She was delighted to have been invited and came and seemed to have enjoyed the outing. Leah was busy cooking in the kitchen when we arrived and I stepped in to help. She put me right to work preparing food and washing dishes. We talked and visited and enjoyed the time together.
The meal was traditionally English with turkey, stuffing, gravy, Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, mash (mashed potatoes) with carrots and other veggies, shredded brussell sprouts, honey parsnips, and cranberry. Sparkling red and white grape juice was the drink. It was enjoyed by all. When we were finished, the table was cleared and the dessert came out, not just one dessert, but three. There was Christmas pudding, trifle, and lime/raspberry cheese cake. What a selection and most of us had a small bit of each one. The baby really liked the cheese cake and grandma could not feed it to him quick enough. Leah did an excellent job with preparing all the food.
Top left corner and clockwise: Dad, Steve, Natalie, Leah, Tony & Denise, (Steve's parents and missionaries at the temple with us) and Tim, Tony's brother. Anthony. Tony with the Santa hat complete with beard he got as a gift. Penny and her brother. Joseph, Lizzy, Adam, and Stevie.
Gifts were handed out and we were given socks and a 2015 calendar. We had brought cookies, chocolate, and oranges for the family. It was a fun time watching the children open gifts and be excited about what they had been given.
We loaded up, took Natalie home, and headed to our home, arriving around 3:15 p.m. We got in the house and took a break before beginning the FaceTime calls to all of the children. For the next five hours we were on and off the iPad sharing the joy of the day with them. We missed speaking to Mariah due to her having gone back to Scottsdale for work today, and Jack on his mission. We called Jared but he was unable to answer. He and Kim called the next day and we enjoyed conversation and meeting her father, Bob.
December 26, is known as Boxing Day here in England and is a national holiday. It began centuries ago when the wealthy let their help go home on this day and "box" up food to take to their families. It has become a shopping day like Black Friday in America. Dad went to the mall in Crawley to see what it would be like. He said there were lots of people but most of them were not very happy and just focused on getting what they had come to buy.
I chose to be home for the day and found myself having a great time in cleaning, sorting, filing, and putting Christmas decorations away. I took time out to read a book, watch a movie, and do some blogging. I was happy to stay in and not have to bundle up to go outside. Besides, the sun had gone away.
Sunday found us in the nursery. There were only four children in there, so with the leader and us, it was a piece of cake. Theo wanted his mummy. I picked him up in an effort to console him. I sat down with a puzzle and entertained him for a time with it. Then I started singing primary songs to him and he fell asleep. I held him the rest of the time. Cole liked playing with Dad and showing him various toys. etc.
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